Telangana Offers Little Scope for PhD in AYUSH Subjects

Highlights:
Last week, UGC had issued a directive to all the universities and educational institutions to include AYUSH disciplines for enrolment of candidates in PhD programmes in AYUSH.

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has been encouraging universities and colleges to introduce PhD courses in AYUSH which include Yoga and Naturopathy, Homeopathy, Ayurveda, Unani and Siddha. However, there isn’t enough scope for the government of Telangana to introduce courses in Ayush due to a shortage of colleges, faculty and resources persons in this discipline.

Last week, UGC had issued a directive to all the universities and educational institutions to include AYUSH disciplines for enrolment of candidates in PhD programmes in AYUSH. The Centre is also planning to sponsor 200 candidates annually pursuing PhD on AYUSH research topics. However, in Telangana, there are only three government colleges and two private colleges offering Homeopathy courses. It is clear that the state is unlikely to produce any research scholars in the coming years.

Dr. M. Narasimha Chary, President of Telangana Government Homeopathy Doctors’ Association, was of the opinion that the UGC has sent various representations to introduce PhD in AYUSH and so far nothing has been done in this field. He cited the example of Rajasthan where there are PhD scholars, and the state government is giving more emphasis to research in this field.

According to experts, it is not possible to introduce PhD in AYUSH in Telangana as there are insufficient faculty members and institutions. Out of three government colleges, only one college offers the post-graduate course.

Dr. Neeraja Reddy, Principal of Gandhi Naturopathic Medical College, mentioned that they had requested the government to sanction permission for post-graduate courses before bifurcation. However, the proposal is still under consideration. Currently, the college has 18 faculty members for an intake of 30 students for the undergraduate course.